Lufthansa Interested in Condor Takeover

If Lufthansa has its way, they will soon own German airline Condor … again.

A Brief History of Condor

Condor is a German leisure airline founded in 1955. The airline operates a fleet of 41 aircraft, including the A320s, 757s and 767s. As you expect, they fly to holiday destinations around the world, including in Europe, Africa and North America.

Condor 767

The airline has quite interesting history. Lufthansa was a shareholder in Condor from the time they were founded in 1955. While the airline has undergone many adjustments to its business model over the years, Lufthansa began selling its Condor shares to Thomas Cook in 2000.

Thomas Cook is a UK travel company that has airlines and hotels, but mostly they are a travel agent.

So between 2000 and 2007, Lufthansa sold all of its shares in Condor to Thomas Cook.

While at this point Lufthansa has no ownership in Condor, the two airlines continue to cooperate. The two airlines interline, Condor use Miles & More as their frequent flyer program, and premium Condor passengers access Lufthansa lounges.

Personally, I also have some history with Condor. Growing we fly them every year from Tampa to Frankfurt, as they were the only airline to fly nonstop. This was back in the days when they had a smoking department on airplanes, and that's really what got me into miles and points. I expected there to be a better way to get to Germany than in the smoking section of a Condor 767. ?

Condor 767 economy cabin

Thomas Cook has been looking to sell Condor

While Thomas Cook's airlines have performed quite well, the company has continued to sell them. Why? Thomas Cook as a whole loses a lot of money because of his holiday department – for example, in 2018, Thomas Cook airlines reported an operating profit of GBP 129 million, while the company reported an opening loss of GBP 60 million over the year

As Thomas Cook's CEO director described it:

"We recognize that we need greater financial flexibility and resources to accelerate the implementation of our differentiation strategy: investing in strengthening our own brand Lufthansa is interested in Condor

Today was the deadline for potential investors to express interest in Condor, and Lufthansa CEO Carsten Spohr has said that the company intends to bid for Condor:

"We decided yesterday at the board meeting to bid on all Condor with the ability to expand this (bid) to all Thomas Cook airlines. "

Spohr recognizes that there will be further consolidation in the aviation industry in Europe, and has stated that he expects the Lufthansa Group to be part of it.

What can Lufthansa do with Condor?

Condor is an interesting On the one hand, it has routes that do quite well, and those that complement Lufthansan's grid quite well, on the other hand, the airline has an outdated fleet.

Their long-haul fleet consists entirely of 767s as average over 23 years, and soon these planes will be replaced (and this is something Condor does not have a plan for now).

Condor 767 business class cabin

So I'm partly thinking Lufthansa's motivation is to keep Condor out of the hands of another airline, although I do not say that IAG or Air France-KLM would necessarily be interested, Lufthansa is very protective of its German market share, which we have seen several times since others e airlines try to set up bases there.

If Lufthansa was to take over Condor, I can either see that they hold Condor independent, or fold them into their Eurowings brand, which is their low-cost carrier.

Eurowings A330

Bottom line [19659003] Reports indicate that both Lufthansa and Indigo Partners (who were first interested in a WOW Air acquisition) are both interested in a takeover from Condor, so this will be an interesting situation to look over the coming days.

I could definitely see Lufthansa taking over Condor, and if that happens, I'm curious if they want to maintain it as an independent mark, or fold it into Eurowings.

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